Break of Magic

by Leah Silver

  “Because this isn’t right. We’ll be next, you know?” she answered.

  “And when we are, we’re the only ones who know how to fight it. Then we take control.” He seemed very confident, but she didn’t answer him, telling me she was skeptical.

  When they stopped talking, I felt something. In my arm. The darkness was fading, allowing me to come back to myself. Thank the Mother. I felt the blanket weighing heavily on me, cool air passing through my nostrils, how dry my throat was. I swallowed, and it hurt.

  I struggled to open my eyes.

  “He’s waking up,” the woman said.

  Blinking, I swallowed again, working to clear the foul taste out of my mouth. What was that? It was almost metallic.

  “So, round two?” the man asked.

  No one spoke to me. As I blinked a few more times, I saw I was surrounded by the grey-skinned creatures. Who had been speaking moments before? Was I hallucinating? Didn’t hallucinations come with images? Maybe I was hallucinating now. I wouldn’t be surprised, given the nature of my last visions. Except, despite how real those had felt, how my body and mind had panicked, it was apparent they were visions. I was not my mother or a young human boy.

  “Should we wait a minute, let him recover before we push the next one?” the woman asked.

  “No. Just push it. Why drag it out longer than necessary?” the man answered. But I watched him speak. His mouth didn’t move nearly enough to say that many words.

  I ignored it, chalking it up to my mind still being sluggish. Or maybe it really wasn’t real. I wasn’t sure. Instead, I addressed their problem. “Well, because if you don’t wait, the data set might be negatively impacted.”

  He looked startled when he stared down at me, waffling between fascination and horror. “Is he understanding you?”

  “And you as well,” I said to the woman.

  She put a hand on my arm, possibly to steady herself. “How is this possible?”

  “Side effect from the last injection, likely,” the man offered.

  “Should we tell…him?” She nodded toward the door.

  “No. Not now. As far as I can tell, this information is moot. After all, who cares if he can understand us if he’s dead?”

  “I care. For the record, I care quite a bit,” I offered.

  “I’m sure you do,” he said.

  “Listen, I heard you earlier. Why wait to turn on them until they turn on you? If we just—”

  He cut me off with a colder injection into my arm.

  “Oh, that was real nice,” the woman said. “He wasn’t wrong, you know. Anything he feels now could be a combination of the first dose and this one. There will be no way to replicate it.”

  “Yes, there will. We’ll bring him back and do it again. You know they’re not finished with him. No way they’d let him go so easily,” the man answered.

  Again? I thought. Pain lanced through my arm. I tried to relax, but it was difficult. I clenched my teeth in an effort not to cry out.

  “Just let it wash over you in waves,” she offered. “Sam is my name.” She elongated the s, sounding a bit like the hissing I’d heard earlier.

  I wanted to answer her, to tell her my name was Oscar, but I couldn’t. The pain spread like a thousand razor-sharp knives up my arm, across my chest, and down through my midsection. I couldn’t contain it anymore.

  I screamed, pulling against the restraints. The one on my left wrist started to give, and they both went to that side to hold me down.

  “Get some more people in here. The gargoyles preferably. They’re the only ones as strong as him,” the man commanded.

  Distantly, I heard her light footsteps recede. But the pain didn’t. Sweat beaded on my forehead. The man threw the blanket off me, bringing a rush of cool air with it. But it didn’t help. The pain spread down my legs and consumed me. It was as if I were on fire and touching a block of ice all at once. The heat and ache left not a single inch of my body untouched. And where my skin had contact with something, it was amplified. My back against the gurney, my arms, legs, and forehead against the restraints, the man’s hand on my arm, everything was fire and ice magnified.

  I cried out over and over until I was hoarse, opening my eyes when I felt a gargoyle’s hands on me. It was the same one who’d captured me.

  “You did this to me. To us,” I accused. The pain was making me need to blame someone. And he was nearby.

  He viewed me with a different kind of pain. “I’m sorry, brother.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I said through clenched teeth. “Do something if you’re all that sorry. Save me. Save them. Save yourself.”

  “I already have,” he said cryptically. Another wave of pain washed over me as three other gargoyles took stations around me, ready to hold me down if they needed to.

  The pain seized me to exhaustion. And it was then the true hallucinations set in. They were different from the visions the first dose had given me, because I didn’t go anywhere. I was still strapped to the gurney when Merry walked in.

  “Boys, give us a minute.”

  Sam gently dabbed at some of the sweat beading on my forehead before going to join the gargoyles who’d left the room. The gargoyle who kept calling me brother looked over his shoulder once and winked before he shut the door behind him.

  “Well, you’ve certainly gotten yourself into a bit of distress, haven’t you?” She sauntered toward me in those black leather pants, her hips swaying back and forth. I licked my lips, all my pain suddenly forgotten. I tasted salt, feeling the sweat still beading on my forehead. Was I feverish?

  It didn’t matter. She was at my side. “Should I start calling you damsel?” She traced a finger across my chest as she coyly eyed me.

  “If you think it suits me,” I said, but I sounded drunk. My words sort of slurred together.

  “We’ll just see, won’t we?”

  She climbed on top of the gurney, straddling me.

  “What are you…” I trailed off as her hands went to the hem of her tank top. She paused for a moment, watching me. I bit my bottom lip, waiting for what she’d do next. “Don’t you want to untie me?”

  “No. I’ll have my way with you.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I wanted to touch her. Feel her ass in my hands, her delicious breasts. I wanted to participate, not be a spectator the first time we were together.

  Seemed I didn’t have much choice. She pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a lacy black bra that squeezed her cleavage so close together I wasn’t sure I could’ve even gotten my tongue between them. The thought made me a bit more excited than I’d care to admit.

  She must’ve felt it because she wriggled on my lap, coaxing a bit more excitement from me before she tossed her black top aside. “My, my. You are anxious, aren’t you?”

  “I know you are, but what am I?” I said stupidly.

  I swallowed when she reached around behind her, toying with her bra clasp. The anticipation killed me, and I pulled against my restraints. I wanted to feel her skin.

  “Don’t worry, there will be plenty of time for that later,” she assured me.

  When would there be time for that? Before or after we’d saved the world from this ridiculous plague that was expanding out from the vampires? Did she even realize what they’d been doing to me here? Did she know about Charles?

  “Shh. There will be time for answers later.”

  Had I spoken? I didn’t think I had. But once she had my attention back, she raised an eyebrow. A wicked smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She released the clasp on that torture device, and let it fall onto my stomach. Bare chested, she sat astride me, hooded eyes surveying me.

  I didn’t even try to look at her eyes. Why bother? Her breasts were there for the taking. When she laughed, they bounced a bit, making me struggle against my restraints. I needed to feel them. In my hands or my mouth. I didn’t care. I just needed her.

  Her laughter grew and grew as she straddled me. The
more she laughed, the more confused I became. What was this game she was playing? Merry wasn’t malicious. And yet, her laugh had changed. It wasn’t teasing or joyful. It was…mean.

  “You thought I actually loved you? A gargoyle?” She glared down at me with her beautiful hazel eyes, but the kindness, the love, the passion for justice…it was gone. All I saw was hate. I tried to recoil, but the damned restraints held me in place, making her cackle even more.

  “Ah, I see the torture has begun.” My uncle’s voice echoed in the space, and my eyes went wild, darting to him.

  Her smile didn’t fade like I expected it to when she craned her neck to see him. Nor did she try to cover up at the intrusion. What was going on?

  “Ah, Evert. So glad you could join me.” She swung her leg over and hopped off the gurney, leaving me cold and alone. Maybe I was already that way.

  Was Merry in league with Charles? But he’d seemed so sad about it. Why was she so…delighted?

  “Shall we continue?” My uncle gazed at her chest with a hunger I’d seen in his eyes before. A hunger to take what he wanted. A hunger he knew she would satisfy.

  “No,” I croaked, and they both laughed.

  “Ah, the damsel found his voice,” Merry teased. She turned around, and my uncle walked up behind her when she approached me.

  He brought his hand around to her breast and pinched her nipple. Her lips curved. When she leaned into him, she put her head on his shoulder. He smiled wickedly at me. “Oh, this is going to be good,” he said as he shoved his hand down her pants. “She is so wet.”

  Fury pulsed through me at their display. I slammed my eyes shut, not wanting to see any more of it. Apparently, since I refused to watch, they got louder to make me listen.

  “Oh, Evert. Yes. Finger fuck me. Oh…” Merry moaned.

  “You like it like that? Take it. Wait until my cock is inside you. I’ll bend you right over your old lover and take you right here.”

  “Oh, yes. Now. Do it.”

  A rustling of clothing sounded. They started bumping into my bed, but I refused to open my eyes. “You’re so tight,” my uncle said. He grunted, obviously pushing into her on every sound.

  Screams of pleasure filled my ears as my personal nightmare played out in front of me. Or rather, on top of me. As they both climbed to their climax, a blinding light pierced the room when the double doors were thrown open. A figure stood silhouetted by the light.

  “Oscar, your family is a bunch of twatwaffles.”

  Merry

  Troll shit really sticks to your boots

  These men were going to be the death of me. And if they weren’t, I was going to fucking kill them.

  Slowly, I sat up, feeling rather nauseous. I brought my knees to my chest, leaning heavily on them.

  You’ll be fine. Tempest’s voice startled me. She’d died trying to save Sara. She’d come to me once after that, offering aid. But I wasn’t sure what she was, if she’d become the Mother or a Fae spirit. I hadn’t had a chance to get a clear answer from her.

  “Tempest, what’s happening?”

  You’re losing. That’s what’s happening.

  “Well, thank you very much, Captain Obvious. What tipped you off? The fact I’m flat on my ass in the middle of the sidewalk, or the fact I’m alone?” Alone. Totally alone. Where had Oscar gone? He never would’ve left me alone on purpose. Had he been taken? By who? Last I remembered, his relatives had shown up, but they’d gone before stirring up too much trouble.

  I will help you get Oscar. You need your coven intact to win.

  “Oh, ya think?” I demanded. I was irritated, but not with Tempest. She’d probably saved my life from something I hadn’t even seen. With every fiber of my being based on the situation, it was more than apparent we shouldn’t separate, but they wouldn’t listen to me. Levi had seemed so sensible. He needed to find the cure. That one made the most sense. But the rest? What had they accomplished by going off on their own? A big fat griffin egg, that was all.

  I stood, feeling a bit woozy on my feet. But the more I moved around, the more my head cleared.

  “Where is Oscar? Did his horrible family take him?”

  Tempest materialized in front of me, where before she’d just been a voice in my head. I must’ve looked like some crazy person talking to myself. I’d have fit right in if I were downtown and lying in a gutter.

  The Fae was beautiful, a gauzy white gown faded around the edges floated around her. She had a bit of a magical glow that was helped by the fact her hair rippled despite the absence of any wind.

  “Must be breezy wherever you are.” She smiled, but didn’t speak. “You look like one of the human models. Death suits you.”

  At that, she laughed out loud. It was such a musical sound I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

  I’ve missed you.

  “And I, you. Thanks for rescuing me. Apparently, I need to keep my men on shorter leashes.”

  Her face turned serious in that moment, and she reached out her hand. Come. There isn’t much time.

  “What? Are we going to hold hands and sing while we frolic down the street?”

  For Bael’s sake, Merry. Just take my hand.

  I eyed her skeptically, but even I knew better than to defy a spirit Fae who’d just sworn at me. Reaching out, I expected my hand to pass right through hers. She was a bit transparent, after all. But it didn’t. I made contact, and her warm palm wrapped around mine, filling me with a peace I wasn’t sure I’d ever known before.

  Slowly, the world faded, and I was surrounded by white. Still, she held onto me, although she said nothing.

  “Tempest, what’s happening? Why are we being torn apart?”

  Her silence made me frown. There are mysteries in life I’d never get answers to, but I kinda needed a response on this one. How was I supposed to succeed if I didn’t understand the why?

  Flashes appeared before us as our surroundings changed. Levi sat at a microscope with Sara standing over his shoulder. He wore a white lab coat, but a completely blackened hand stuck out from beneath it. “No. Levi…” He faded away, and Ed took his place.

  My wizard stood in the distance surrounded by darkness, walking cautiously ahead.

  “Ed,” I cried out, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he disappeared.

  Ike lay on a bed. A woman stood in the doorway, observing him. Was that a smile on her face? Who in Bael’s name was that? I’d kill her.

  But before I could storm over to her, the scene changed yet again to Oscar tied down to a bed, hooked up to all kinds of medical equipment. He was screaming bloody murder.

  Frantic, I turned to Tempest. “What are they doing to him?”

  They’re testing the plague. Seeing how it impacts other species. She’d said it so simply, as if she were telling me they were growing corn in Iowa.

  “They’re what?”

  She turned to me as the scene remained. We all knew this wouldn’t remain isolated to vampires, Merry. Regardless of your insistence on the fact that three vampires didn’t constitute a plague early on, the threat of this was, and is, real. And it’s becoming very apparent Oscar is living proof of the evil we face.

  “We have to help him.”

  We are.

  “By doing what? Standing here in some in-between place watching him? We need to get there, wipe them all out, and move on.”

  There’s more to it than that. He will need the cure. Immediately.

  “The cure. How am I supposed to get my hands on that?”

  They have it.

  “They? Who’s they?”

  She nodded at the scene, and I watched as a few grey-skinned creatures monitored him. One stood by his side, gazing at him with what looked like sorrow. Maybe even regret?

  Four gargoyles who’d turned to stone stood around him, holding him down, while another creature held a clipboard and monitored his vitals, occasionally taking notes.

  “What are they?”

  Slaves.

  “S
laves to who?”

  That is the question, isn’t it?

  “That’s why I asked it.”

  She didn’t answer me. Surprise, surprise. Just when I got close to something important, she’d leave me hanging. “You know, you weren’t such an annoying friend when you were alive.”

  She turned and eyed me. I beg to differ. You were always annoyed with how I spoke to you in your mind.

  I nodded. “That’s true.” I watched Oscar scream, his back arched against some unseen pain, and I cringed. “How much longer do we have to watch this? And what’s your plan when we step in?”

  The plan is to stop it.

  “Specific.” As I said it, the light behind me faded and became a grey hallway. Two open double doors materialized at my side. I recognized his uncle standing off in the corner with a smirk on his face. I’d punch him first.

  “Oscar, your family is a bunch of twatwaffles,” I said, and the screaming stopped. It threw me off. Was he dead? In that heartbeat, I was frozen to my spot. I couldn’t be too late. Why would Tempest bring me here just to see him die?

  Move, Merry. Get to Oscar.

  Her words set me in motion. I ran across the room, daggers out, but no one challenged me. I was acutely aware of a bright light in the room, but my eyes were on Oscar, who seemed a bit wild.

  I was just relieved to see him alive. His wide-open eyes were fixed on me, but they were filled with pain, anger, and confusion. They darted between me and a spot right in front of him.

  The gargoyles surrounding him melted away before my very eyes. They cried out in pain, but all they could do was hold their arms up against the blinding light behind me. Tempest. They pooled like lava around his bed, and I worked to avoid stepping in the mess.

  “No,” Oscar’s uncle said. I turned to him, brandishing my blades.

  “I’m sorry. Is there a misunderstanding here? I’m taking him, and you’re dying. That’s the deal right now. If you don’t like it, well, I don’t really give a troll’s ass.”

  No. Go to Oscar.

  I frowned, my nostrils flaring out. My blades lusted for that man’s blood. I could feel them trembling in my hands. Particularly the jeweled beauty Tempest had given me all those years ago. She’d found her mark and wanted it. I decided to do both. I threw it at him, square between the eyes.